Auction Bytes Suggests eBay May Be Eyeing Second Life

Not sure about this one... I'll let you click through to the Auction Bytes article and decide for yourselves.

That said... let me know what you think in the comments! What would happen if eBay were to pursue this?

Who's Next To Build A Bulkhead In Second Life?

Automotoportal.com is reporting that Mercedes Benz has established a presence in Second Life. As with so many other commercial newcomers Mercedes will be hosting a concert to kick off their unveiling since... well... cool kids love concerts.

Actually this one sounds kind of interesting with MB suggesting that there will be a virtual test track introduced in time, a showroom, free downloads of Mercedes' 16th mix tape compilation and a virtual Formula 1 racing suit and helmet.

“Digital communication has been established as a permanent component of the Mercedes-Benz marketing activities. With Second Life we are consequently using a new communication platform to further address our existing and potential customers”

Automotoportal.com provides links to more detailed information, so go check them out and enjoy your MB Second Life :)

Another Canadian School To Hold Class In Second Life

This time it's Loyalist College, specifically the Post Graduate E-Journalism progam as described on this page.

Additional information is available in audio form by accessing this linked file.

You Too Can Be A Second Life Millionaire

If Anshe can do it why can't you? Why can't you indeed...
Everywhere you go in Second Life someone's selling something... you're not sure if they're making money doing it, but that graph of 24 hour spend on secondlife.reuters.com wouldn't lie.... would it?

This Entrepreneur.com article promises to show you the business opportunities available to you in Second Life. Reality or snake oil?

From that article:

A million dollars of virtual loot. It's a concept that's difficult to wrap your head around, but in November, that's exactly what virtual real-estate developer Anshe Chung accomplished in the 3D virtual world Second Life, in which users live "second" lives as avatars. When her entrepreneurial success story hit the press, it spread like wildfire, leading many to ask: What exactly are the business opportunities available in Second Life?

As you would expect the article quotes a number of people quitting their day jobs for careers in Second Life. Whether or not they'll succeed is another matter entirely.

From the article:

But the bottom line for entrepreneurs is, will Second Life really pan out? Or is it just hype, since the majority of people have never ventured virtually or even heard of it?

Personally, I expect that we're a little early for this to be reality... but that in the relatively near future certain aspects of the world will provide legitimate business opportunities for more than the current handful of successful vendors. The question as always is when will the time be right to dive in head first?

Embassy In Second Life... Is This Getting Out Of Hand?

CNet's doing interviews in Second Life.
Reuters has a news bureau in Second Life.
Now Sweden has announced that they are planning to establish an Embassy in Second Life.

Why?

The first two resulted in good (though often unpredictable) press for both companies, but does Sweden need this kind of press? It will be interesting to see if they pursue this as well as how they plan to leverage the expense to benefit their citizens in this virtual world.

Davidreport.com provides an interview that provides insight into these questions. You can find that interview here.

From that interview:

Our mission is to increase the knowledge about and interest in Sweden around the world. To do that we need to constantly find new ways to communicate with our target groups and to reach them, where they are most likely to be open to our message. Our aim is to find and inspire a selective group of people which is hard to reach through more traditional channels. Second Life is one of many channels to use and explore.

Personalities: Anshe Chung

The stories of individuals making good in Second Life are popping up with surprising frequency these days, and one has to wonder how many are fact and how many fiction. The quintessential case in point appears to be Second Life real estate tycoon Anshe Chung (SL name) who along with her husband has successfully created a business that would be envied by most realtors in the 'real world.'

At the time of writing Wikipedia summarizes Chung's accomplishments as:

she has built an online business that engages in development, brokerage and arbitrage of virtual land, items and currencies

While impressive, it warrants reading further to understand the actual power this conveys in a world like Second Life. Business Week speaks to the restrictions she's able to place on those purchasing her land:

Players also wanted neighborhoods that amounted to more than drab slabs of virtual turf, and they wanted some order. So she began creating the equivalent of gated communities, complete with zoning rules. She doesn't allow malls or clubs in certain regions, for instance, and limits the heights of buildings. "She is the government," Rosedale says.

Enough talk, check out the opportunities for yourself at Anshe Chung Studios.

Second Life Registrations, Searches, Visits Spike

Ah, the joys of word-of-mouth referrals and frequent press mentions.
Hitwise writes that:

last week the share of US Internet searches for 'second life' shot up 73% compared to the previous week (week ending 10/21/06 vs. week ending 10/14/06), and visits to the Second Life website more than doubled in the two weeks between the weeks ending 10/7/06 and 10/21/06.

On the surface this sounds pretty positive for the future prospects of SL, but the blog goes on to quote anectodal mention that there seem to be more business and newbies prospecting for business opportunities. If this is true, I wonder whether the added interest might not serve to upset the existing Second Life community.

The blog also mentions that the age of new users has moved upward in recent weeks. While this seems to agree with the statements in the previous paragraph I'd take it with a grain of salt as one of the benefits of these 'virtual worlds' is that users can be whoever they care to be. As there is no identify verification of registrants there is nothing to stop a 20-something user from declaring an age of 67 while registering... not to mention the older users who in the past may have pretended to be younger than they are (for innocent or not-so-innocent purposes)... a practice that may be changing as the media recognize and publicize the abuses carried out by some of these individuals in communities like Second Life and MySpace.

As mentioned in a previous post, I wouldn't get too hung up in registration numbers for a free community like this one. Curiosity and active participation are two very different things... with the second being the measure more interesting to me as a guage of the product's present and future prospects. Let me also slip in a quick note of concern around accounts potentially being created in this high growth period for later malicious purpose... there, I'll end my conspiracy talk now :)

A Virtual Travelocity - Synthravels

So you want to check out a new virtual world but you don't want to spend time learning the ropes and 'earning' your way across the landscape? What's a lazy, yet curious individual to do?

Contact Synthravels and have them organize a virtual world tour for you. I have my doubts about this one, but who knows... I've been wrong many, many (many, many, many) times before.

More Mainstream Second Life - NPR This Time.

Pffffft. Why do I hear about these things the day after they happen?
Apparently NPR's "Talk of the Nation" did a spot on Second Life yesterday that would have been great to listen to... hopefully there will be something accessible in the archives.

I'm told that there wasn't a lot of information about life in the game itself, but rather it focused on the commercial application of the world - not surprising given the program's target audience, but kind of disappointing nonetheless.

Update: Sweet, they posted the program which is accessible here. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Virtual Worldvertizing - Nissan In Second Life.

I'm not sure that the Nissan Sentra is the car that would scream 'virtual worlds' to me, but apparently someone or some research group backed it enough for it to happen. Nissan has taken the plunge into Second Life with a promo that allows residents to secure virtual Sentras in various colours that can be driven in SL. The sim for this endeavour was created by Electric Sheep, a name you should be familiar with by now.

I'm not exactly sure how you get a car in SL... something about having to find the 'Toast Alicious' avatar (wtf does this have to do with Nissan?) in order to secure a PIN that will let you get your wheels when you find the Nissan sim.

Happy hunting.